Carpal tunnel syndrome can commonly coexist in patients with neck pain conditions. Symptoms of tingling and numbness in the fingers can be a combination of cervical nerve root irritation and the concomitant presence of carpal tunnel syndrome.

We nurses can only hope that this gentleman was a CNA with an inflated sense of his own knowledge (and title).

Nothing quite frosts my fanny like people who claim the title "nurse" without earning it! MA's are the very worst culprits IMHO, especially those who work in doctors' offices and refer to themselve as "Dr. Grumpier's NURSE".

*steams sizzling out of the ears of a torqued middle aged N.U.R.S.E.!!!

Carpal tunnel in the neck... I can think of a couple of our anatomy lab groups that have completely aberrant cadavers (two axial arteries!), but we sure as heck haven't seen any carpal bones or intrinsic hand muscles in the neck.

Nothing I HATE more than someone saying they are a nurse!! "Oh i'm a nurse!" uhh no no you're not. You are a Personal Support Worker. (or a care assistant or some other health care type worker! But not a nurse!) You have no license, no regulatory body. I have a degree and 4 letters after my name for a reason!

If he was actually a nurse I honestly hope he's not directly involved with patient care...

Pattie, RN - I'm an MA instructor and I repeatedly teach my students that they are *not* nurses and should never pass themselves off as such. However, it has been my experience that the physician they work for tends to refer to them as such and the patients don't know the difference, despite attempting to educate both the physician and the patient.

I think that as MAs become more common and patients become more educated that an MA is not a nurse, we'll see less unintentional misrepresentation. Also, any certified MA who misrepresents his/herself intentionally stands to lose his/her certification.

Once had a nurse diagnose ventricular fibrillation in my patient....wait for it....by looking at the wave form on the pulse oximiter. She's not just an RN, she has a master's degree, trains other nurses, and of course is the union rep. She once administered chest compressions to a girl who passed out after a painful vaccine. Had to admit the child to monitor for possible cardiac contusion after. Oh I don't love working with her and there's nothing I can do, I've tried.

damn... I could have sworn that (when I was a hand surgeon) there was a white 'tunnel' that I released time and time again IN THE WRIST that made patients with carpal tunnel syndrome feel better. Could I have been working in the neck and not known it?!

I'm glad not all nurses are like that, actually, many I've met are pretty damn smart, especially the ones in the ER and ICU. However, I guess there's a normal idiot quota (just like with doctors and any other professions). There's to hope I won't ever meet one of those when I'm a patient...

Also - hey, maybe *he* was the fifth anon commenter? ;-) Don't let that make you grumpier!

I think the nurses have hi-jacked Grumpy'e Blog, that ought to make him real happy.

My daughter just received her nursing degree from a prestigious eastern university. How long does it take to get the exam results, cause I am thinking there might be, should be, hope there is a job sometime not too far off.

Pediadoc- Sometimes I can suspect that a patient is in atrial fibrillation based on looking at the pulse from the pulse ox monitoring fluctuating, but I certainly know it can't be diagnosed without ecg. Actually, as that's a medical diagnosis, I know it's out of my scope of practice to diagnose it at all!

Anonymous- If she's taken her NCLEX already, she can pay a small fee to get her results online in about 72 hours. Otherwise, they take several weeks to come in the mail. Most hospitals will hire graduate nurses before they're officially licensed as long as they get licensed in a certain time frame.

I knew a woman who was pregnant and had had problems with premature labour previously. So she went to have a stitch put in her cervix. The consultant she was referred to looked at the notes, saw the comment that she was there for a cervical problem, and asked her to tell him about her neck problems...

0915- carpal tunnel syndrome is common. it coexists with every human condition. it is important to separate it diagnostically from neck problems, but you are still a dipwad. major dipwad......1641- if the patient is telling you about their symptoms, cpr is not at the top of the list of helpful therapies.

Okay, I'm a nursing student with a lowly liberal arts degree to my name. Even I know that carpal tunnel has to do with my wrists. Idiots come in all shapes and sizes. And you didn't see his credentials. For all you know, he just barely passed his CNA (some of those folks do actually call themselves nurses). Or he could be a compulsive liar.

Anon nurse 8, I personally have had CTS and cervical nerve root compression and mild prolapsed disc pressing the spinal column causing stenosis. All causing symptoms in my left arm and hand. I can assure you, they feel nothing alike! While I could have diagnosed nothing, I was able to accurately describe the location and way it felt without telling my doctor what I thought I had. I then received accurate dx and proper treatment. I know that because it worked. Still working on some of the issues but I think I will stick with a doc like dipshit grumpy. Thanks

check dialysis centers .. they need RNs all the timei've been in hospitals a lot (over 100 days total) and i can only complain about one idiot nurse in that whole time. they need references just like doctors in my opinion. i've asked around and find out where my fave nurses are and try to get on that floor or wing. and if you read the name tags it will say MA, RN, LPN, etc on them

I'm an RN and I always go to my doc and say, "I have x, y, and z? What could be wrong with me?"

If I've read something that worries me, I say, "I saw an article on something with similar symptoms called...whatever...could I have that?"

I am not paid to medically diagnose anyone, and I frequently tell them that. My license does not allow me to, so if someone wants that, I kindly direct them to the nearest MD.

Now, if my doc is blowing me off, and I'm still having symptoms, you'd better believe I'm going to get a second opinion. That's every patients right.

But, I'm with you, some nurses don't act as if they've ever had A&P. Sure, in some specialties we use some areas of the body more than others, but come on! I never heard of carpal tunnel in the neck in any of my A&P!

Maybe the patient just needs a masesses (word verification looks dangerously like masseuse!)

Ha! This reminds me of a job I once had, tutoring biology students at a community college. Biology, of course, included the nursing students' anatomy and physiology classes. I once had a young lady who was THIS CLOSE to flunking her A&P class, and hence flunking out of the nursing program. Instead of buckling down and studying, she threw a fit in the learning center and concluded with the statement that she didn't know why nurses had to know anatomy anyway, and that learning anatomy was (and this really is a direct quote) "a stupid, f***ing waste of time."

Punchline: when my mother was in the cardiac ICU at a local hospital, guess who I saw working there? I went to the floor supervisor and requested that Ms. How-the-hell-did-she-get-this-job NOT under any circumstances be allowed near my mom.

I don't see how that would be insulting to your pharmacist. Any pharmacist who graduated pharm school since 1990 is a doctor of pharmacy (and some schools began offering doctoral pharmacy programs in the early 70s).

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

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